The Knights have lost three of their last five, but play next four games at home

February 19, 2013|By Paul Tenorio, Orlando Sentinel

UCF embarked on an extended road trip last week chasing a regular season Conference USA title, but back-to-back contests in difficult atmospheres proved to be too much for an unseasoned team.

With one of the least experienced rosters in the country, UCF (17-8, 7-4 C-USA) struggled at Memphis and UTEP, dropping both road games in ugly fashion.

The Knights have now lost three of their last five games, but with just six games remaining in the season, the team has had to quickly regroup since returning home. The message from UCF coach Donnie Jones has been to approach this final stretch as a mini-season, he said.

Four of the Knights' final six games are at home.

"Coming back the last couple days of practice I've thought we had good focus as we get ready to prepare for this," Jones said. "When you go on the road you can't let it sink you. [You've] got to regroup real quick and it's the grind of the conference play. We've still got five of them left."

It starts against Marshall tonight at UCF Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. There is no television coverage.

The Thundering Herd (11-15, 4-7) helped to kickstart the Knights' skid when Marshall handed UCF a loss in Huntington, W.Va., Feb. 2. Marshall's length and athleticism gave the Knights major issues during the first meeting. The Herd racked up 14 blocks during a 75-71 win and shot 59.1 percent from the field in the second half.

Jones said the team's approach has to change this time around to counter that size.

"We were too predictable in that game," Jones said. "They are one of the tallest teams in the country and one of the most athletic team in the country, and you got to adjust [to] that with fundamentals and skills and sharing the ball."

Senior Keith Clanton had 24 points against Marshall, his most productive outing of the past month. It was his only game with more than 14 points since Jan. 19, a stretch of eight contests. The Orlando native scored at least 15 points in 13 of the Knights first 17 games.

Clanton, who is averaging 15.3 points and 8.9 rebounds, was just 1-of-10 from the field against UTEP, with four points and nine rebounds.